Bucket sprints

as if to highlight the fact that i have done no upperbody work, i got thrown into a workout yesterday where a few shoulder muscles would have gone a long way - luckliy the buckets were small

the firemen were training for an upcoming competition right outside my office so i thought id get a photo - they agreed to pose for my photo IF... i would fill in for a missing team member - whynot - earp earp

i was sweating to death anyway and im always on the look out for a good work out - i got soaked and then they gave me a set of bunker gear and a helmet - which i needed as two !! buckets were dropped on my head - intense workout running back and forth with buckets of water - and refreshing and fun and i was a fireman for an hour or so - yeehaw

i could have gone back to the firehall with the boys for happy hour but i had too much work to do :(

workaday10k

out to the ferry wharf and back - nice morning for it - overcast and a lil cool - day has since become bright and muggy

the wind always fools me - at my back running out and i dont notice it but heading home BAM it's in my face - i wonder if there is a metpahor for life in there - like you often dont know or appreciate it when you've got it good - not sure i had the energy for that monster run but the real test will be another 20k this week - everything seems go except the energy to keep up this charade

loosey beach front 5k

the tuesday and thursday 5k's are just about stayin loose - keeping the blood flowing - working out kinks - stretching

i needed it this AM - the first bit of the run was yucky - ugh - but somewhere round about the graveyard things started looking up - turned right on montague instead of my normal left because i was looking for peter janson's house - he has a great view of the basin - this morning was especially beautiful - a little cool - brigth sunny dawn - burning through a mist on the water -

from janson's i headed along the beach - yeehaw - a lot of rock hopping and unevern round rock running - woohoo - the easiest place to get off the beach would be right behind the Visitor info centre but i decided i wanted to run the length of Digby waterfront - it was low low low tide so no problem - only had to stop "running" to cross the tracks off the tidal boat works - then trotted up through the vacant lot that used to be the iron duke and home

feeling real good lewis - that run was exactly what i needed :P
fun, felt good, loosened me up, bright sunny day, exploring my home, all good
somehow after the 12 k run i needed a little confidence booster - ahhhhh

Super Halifax Circumnavigation

Okay, so maybe I overdid it a bit - up at 7 and ran around the peninsula - 21 km +
good thing it was a cool, windy drizzly day
felt weak from the get go but kept her slow and was actually feeling ok if a little intimidated by the time i was scrambled down a bramble-filled bank and into the Fairview container terminal - jumped a fence into Seaview park (formerly Africville) and was cornered by a German shepherd -

the run down Barrington is the long boring part but I didnt mind so much - i dont need the ipod - they usualy make me run too fast LOL - i was reall yin the swing when i hit the navy dockyard parking lot and then running around the casino and out and back on every wharf along the waterfront - started getting tired after peir 21 as i was running right into a stiff breeze - point pleasant was fun and so full of people - another dog - this one a collie gave me a big stare and the owner just looked at me to see what i was going to do - then the dog lunged by me like a warning shot -

the hills out of pt pleasant killed me - i thought i'd puke - took my forst walking break to avoid just that eventuality - by the time i got to the woods leading fom tower road to oxford (bot not oxford - is it beaufort?) my brain was shutting down - i waltzed through the woods with a weird slow mo step instead of my normal highstep tango - weird and then not much later the weirdest thing

round a bout jubilee i think, i completley forgot where i was - it was scary - i did not know where i was - a sort of alzheimers moment - i told my self to relax and it would come back and it did :D - weird!

all downhill from corner of oxford and quinpool to rotaryand thank god - it was all i could do - am exhausted today and very sore - need to get more regular -hopefully ill be ok tomorrow

quite fun though to be able to cover so much gground in one run - to travel through so much variety - to see parts of the city most people never think about - yeehaw

note to self - start carrying gatorade and rasins or energy bars on the long runs !!

arrgh

dragged myself aroud a five k loop today - felt so yucky - not strong - need more sleep i guess

close one (11 km)

i have read that after five days of inactivity you are no longer benefitting from whatever exercise you may have done previously - the article was pleading for sustainable moderation in exercise - get out regularly and make it something you can do over the long haul

but the reason i bring it up is because i was about 12 hours from becoming officailly out of shape - it's hard to beleive didnt run all weeeknd - i guess i put it off unitl sunday and theni got busy with a cover letter and.... damn! and monday? what happened to monday? i dunno

anyhoo - today just in the nick of time - i got out again and knocked off an 11 k run - out to the ferry wharf and back - nicole calls me fat when i dont run and that is exactly how i felt out there tonight - f.a.t. - i know it is not true - bu ti did feel like a big blah of useless mush - yucky weak pukey - the good hting is - all that knee hamstrng stiffness i had all winter from the sledding accident is mostly gone - just by gettin my leg strong again - yeah! - there is no more of that achiness when i run - it is now a matter of building the energy up - eating sleeping - that's all

did that hopping back and forth over the cement wall thing - it is fun and i am so strong - yeehaw - but then ifelt like puking - ugh - took a walking break at km 6 - just for a minute and then i started comng out of it - it was a god stroong run comin ghome - oh yeah baby - im back - the pudge may have won back a little gground but SKIP G wont be long puttin ghim in his place - oh yeah

run dont walk

Q: Our long legs with long spring-like tendons, compact feet with longitudinal arches, small toes, shock-absorbing knees, big bottoms (larger than other primates), long waists, broad shoulders for stability, copious sweat glands, minimal body hair, tendency to breathe through our mouths during strenuous activity . . . What’s the point?

A: All are ideal human adaptations for running, suggesting to anthropologists that running and especially endurance running (also unique among primates) has been far more important in our development as a species even than walking, says archaeologist Steven Mithen in The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body. We humans are happy runners, and runners it seems we long have been.

from Bill and Rich Sones at strangetrue@compuserve.com.

rainy 5k run

ran the scallop days' 5k course and stepped it up a bit just to see how it would feel
felt pretty good -the end of water and the beginning of queen is the only UPhillishness to the course - i think it will help me as i have been doing a lot of hill running - the rest of the hill is mostly downhill or flat which is always fun - i think i will try to hold back a bit until the hill on queen and then start to work - once i get to the top of that hill i want to fly just fly the rest of the course - ill be tired by the end of water but the big crowds there will push me to the hill again - from there i will be determined to storm the hill, after which only the downhills and flats are left - and then ill tell myself there's only the home stretch to go (of course that illusion might be hard to keep up the whole length of queen but the farther down queen the closer it will be to be coming true - as my willingness to believe the lie diminishes the veracity of it will increase ... then it is just a big kick down mainstreet - oh baby

it was raining today and i was soaked - but fun to be working it, to be huffing and puffing it, and to be totally absolutely soaked - yehaw rain baby

running hopping thinking

there's a lot of little bits making up an 8 k run
i had planned to run @ 5am and somehow even woke up at 5:08 but promptly rolled over and said fuck that
woke again at 7 but ended up reading and wasting time until 8
legs and back weirdly stiff

the first k or so is always a matter of pushing through that barrier of ugh - getting the blood flowing, sucking up some energy and oomph from somewhere - just got kicking along nice when i ran into an elderly couple and their 300 lb bull mastiff

the poor lady was laying down practically horizontal with her heels dug in trying to restrain the slobbering, barking, growling, pawing, leaping, lunging monster who wanted nothing more, so it seemed, than to eat me alive right then and there. i'm normally careful to walk past dogs but this time i thought maybe a quick scamper was best...

as it turned out i would need the adrenaline for the next section of the trip - the rail bed between the 217 and the dirt road is one big maze of puddles - i call it the lake district - running through the lake district is like running a steeple chase - it is great for the mind and body - im constantly figuring which route to take - which puddles to run aroound and which to jump over -my mind (because it is something that happens just below the level of consciousness) is constantly measuring where each foot should land, whether i need to shorten or lengthen stride to stay in rythmn with the landscape - it is fun and by the end of that kilometre and a half i was huffing and puffing from going at it so hard

then i raced a jetta up the road for a while and almost beat her to the highway... before crossing the hayfield and heading for the tracks - my glasses were fogging up badly in the mist and humidity and i must have been fallin asleep behind them because it came as a rude shock when i hit the rocky stretch leading to the rail bed again - normally there are 3 dogs that bark at me along that stretch but none this mornin - perhaps they are getting used to me or perhaps the heavy rain and lightening last night had something to do with it

i was really dragging coming down water street but still managed to leap up and touch both Bed n Breakfast signs - i was completely soaked - alittle from the grass and leaves and leaning lupines but more as you can imagine from sweat - such a humid day - my shirt im sure weighed an extra 5 pounds by the end of the run - my calves felt/ feel a little strained, pulled even - probably from all the jumping

i remember one especially ambitious jump - i probably should have stopped and walked around the lake for this was no puddle!! - but i decided instead to jump - it was huge - i remember taking off as hard and fast as i could - i had been thinkin (again thinking is not right - these decisions are made below consciousness) but i took off as if i was going to land on two feet but in mid air i realizedi couldnt reach and swiveled my left hip forward - which is strange because i normally land on my righ leg - and reached out for the landing - i remember it because the whole jump seemed to take forever - i knowit wasn't in Michael Jordan's league - but it felt like what i imagine it feels like to be jordan - the land (ie. water of the lake) kept rolling away beneath me - and someow i just hanging up there - then i touched down - my lead heel splashing in the lake and as my right foot followed kicking forward, it hit the splash from my heel - weird

thinking a lot during this run about future runs - about 20 km in two weeks, about switching my training a little to prepare for the scallop days 5k, about the agony of my last marathon, about avoiding another lung infection, about this being my last 8 k for a while - mymidweek runs now bump up to 10 k - i havent mapped out a ten k coourse yet?

about how id always rather be running...

serious blow to the pudge (point prim lighthouse)

today i woke up and and just about killed myself - definitely wounding the pudge along the way...

but first the weekend - no "real" exercise except the boys and i did a whack of hiking - missed the short trail to T.R.'s Cove and walked about 45 minutes in the wrong direction, which of course means walking all that way back - and then we did the 15 minute hike to balancing rock and got a small workout trying to push it over

then there was a good night of dancing - 42 grabbed me around 11 p.m. and did't let go until she was al of a suddem married at 3:00 am - she bought the drinks and she led on the dance floor - all good

Sunday another misguided hike up a river bed - so i was loose if a little tired (and dehydrated) this Am when i woke up - but talked myself somehow into running 16 i mean 17 Km - the schedule says 16 but i wanted to run to the lighthouse at point prim

it's about 5km of flat running out to the ferry wharf, then uphill or downhill for the whole rest of the run :P
i had my shirt off today it was so warm and it felt wonderful to be out there slogging along - it is really very beautiful at the lighthouse - a perfect place for a picnic or to start a long hike - say out the neck...

straight steep up hill from the light house - in the first 1.5 km from the lighthouse, you climb 200 feet... just over 2 km later the road peaks at 460 feet - when you finally reach the top there is a great deal of elation - the run down hill is joy - for a while - i hit the wall about 2km from home - all of a sudden rather cold and felt a lot like i should puke - pleasant indeed

still slogged on and stumbled all the way to the pole in front of the firehall - exhausted - 17 km under my belt and joy of joys - two weeks noww until my next really long run - i think it is just 11 km this weeeknd and then 19 in two weeks - that;s only 2 more than what i just did - might try to run to bear river

strangley enough i remember my 19 run from last time - it was the hunter road - in a snow storm - at night - like minus 300 degrrees - this early morning summer training is sweeet -

wsa thinkning a lot today how i have already "won the lottery" - not to brag but this is a great body i have been blessed with - i can jump up and run 17 km after only a couple months of running - i am lucky lucky lucky - feeling ggreat - in a very positive mood all day ( friends fresh air and fun) - of course i am learning that respect for the distnace thing again - 20 km is a long fucking way - need to start wearing the pack with water and snacks - shouldhave had it today - might have kept the wall at bay baby

most of all im glad i stuck to my goal of not driving to the lighthouse unitl i had run there - now im free to go anbnytime - it should be advertsed more - and there should be walking trail leading to it from town - just one CFA's opinion

the pudge is still around but he's on his weak knees - Skip G is starting to show.... :D

late day 5k

a hot hot one but stil managed a late day 5k - i was, to be frank, pessimistic i could fit it in after i skipped it this morning - but just before 5pm i realized i had got as much done as i could for "the day" and ran home and changed - ran out to the cemetary and back the tracks - my fav 5k here - at the gravel pit behind the graveyard i stopped over and did 5 hill repeats just for the hell of it - that took all the good out of me and it was a long hot slog home -

nice to get the 5 k in for a stretcher before taking on the 16 km this weekend- im thinking, the way the writing is going, it will be sunday AM if im not too hung or sunday afternoon - man i am turning into a runner baby - 16k is the point prim light house - i have been putting off driving out there until i run there - hopefully this weekend - need to eat big i that's the case - maybe wear the stupid water bottle to drink and eat - need raisins...

sweet 8k

at least i think it was 8k - out the train track starting at the raquette on the north end of town and heading towards the neck, then it turns goes along back of town, - no idea for sure where i was but i followed a dirt road and then turned on a paved road and yes - i was where i thought i was - crossed a hay field, through some woods down a quarry trail to more train tracks that run along the south end of town, past the joggin and the waste treatmetn plant, through a couple yards and down main street

this run was the most fun i have had yet - the surface of the rail bed is so perfect for running - the fourwheelers have made a series of waves or whales and i try to run up and down those to keep loose - and the section west of town is blocked by a couple of serious puddles - like 250 m long puddles - but in other places it is more about hopping over puddles and running around them and that was fun too -

this is the first run ive done (this time round) where i really felt like i was running strong - like i was moving and not hurting - felt awesome - gives me confidence that this marathon thing is possible - 1/4 of the way there - tomorrow im going to do a little 5k and then 16k saturday before hippy shows up - oh boy -

it would be nice to get back on track - every week so far i have dropped one of my 5 k runs - causei miss my weekends runs and make them up late - everything in my life is upside down right now- but i refuse to give up on this - the pudge is quaking baby

14 K

fell off a few a few days again - weekends - especiall weekends like the last one - hard to keep on track - i asked the other residents of "skin hill" (where i woke up sunday AM) if they wanted to do 14 with me - but no one said yes - in fact no one said anything - they just looked at me for a second and then went back to whatever they were doing ???

monday i was just plain lazy - so this morning i dragged my self out of bed (i use that word loosely - it is probably more accurate to say - i draggged myself out of my nest on the floor) and got going before i could wake up and realize what i was doing - 14 k is a long trip - beautiful run out the shore raod with the sun rising over annapolis - waved to several walkers and more rnners going the other way - so much different than alberton - i understand though - it is so boring running there - you might as well go on a treadmill and watch tv

from the shore road it was the long long long uphill slog to the top of mount pleasant - after a while you really get used to runing uphill - i definielty got faster and faster as the run went on - it was crazy because one side of my brain knew exactly how exhausted i was but the otherside was tripping on endorphins and kept saying stuff like "Just a little faster - cmon - give'er now - just a little faster"

coming down the digby side was fun - i just strethced it out and had fun - felt good - really had to be firm with myself to get me to run all the way to the telephone pole across from the fire dept that i consider the finsh line - that was 14 k eh? 1 hr and 45 minutes - monster hill -

when i stopped running at the firehall, it was a weird feeling - my breathing slowed right down but it felt like my whole body shrunk - like running had been holding it puffed out or inflated and when i stopped, it all just sucked into ths small little shrunken me - 14k = 1/3 of the marathon distance. hopefully ill get faster - im not nterested in running a 6 hour marathon thank you - just gotta keep at it - yeehaw